


Stalk Me Gently

by dare121



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F, Soft Gay Banter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 02:18:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14967005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dare121/pseuds/dare121
Summary: A day before the dance, Ellie and Dina leave the compound to pick up some herbs.Ellie is confused. Dina is being weird.





	Stalk Me Gently

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, I hope you've all seen this glorious piece of fanart: http://lesly-oh.tumblr.com/post/174993414927/you-all-know-i-cant-think-of-anything-else-but ♥ i might genuinely write a mushy little fanfic about it ok because !!! it's my new phone background
> 
> Secondly, please let me know if you agree with Ellie's characterization in this, especially in the last couple of paragraphs. I can't decide if what I wrote here aligns with what we've seen in TLOU and the trailer for TLOU2. aka i cant tell if she's too emotionally intelligent in this, our stunted little gay
> 
> Thirdly, I hope you enjoy!

The gate closed heavily behind them, and Ellie waved back at the guard that had just let them through. He waved back and wished them a safe journey, to which Dina responded with a thumbs up. They wouldn't be outside the compound for long, but Tommy’s people - Ellie’s people - still regarded it as bad luck not to wish them a good trip.

In front of them, the forest opened up its darkened innards, but Ellie wasn't afraid. She knew this forest inside and out. In the last five years, she’d spent practically as much time amongst its trees as she had in the compound.

Both she and Dina were wearing mostly empty backpacks so they could carry home what they had been sent out to get.

“There is no way no one else could have done this job,” Dina said teasingly as the compound disappeared in the distance behind trunks and leaves.

“You're the one who volunteered to come with. No one’s forcing you to be here,” Ellie shot right back, a soft smile playing across her lips as she regarded her friend. They were walking fairly closely together as they weaved their way through the underbrush, their elbows brushing every couple of steps.

“Did it ever occur to you that I might have tagged along just for the pleasure of your company?” Dina was holding a machete loosely in between the fingers of her right hand, while her left was curled around the strap of her backpack. She was dressed the way she usually was, in a pair of jeans and a sweater.

“You're so full of shit.” Ellie’s smile widened a little as she pretended for a second that Dina’s words were true and she really had come along to spend some quality time with her. They were friends and Ellie loved hanging out with Dina, but she wasn't an idiot. “I know the only reason you're out here right now is so you don't have to keep listening to your dad.”

At her words, Dina let out a dramatic sigh. Then, she mimicked her father's deep voice as she spoke. “ _Someone that nice and strapping is hard to find in this world, young lady_ ,” she said, kicking a pebble at her feet. It was highly unlikely that there would be infected so close to the compound, so they weren't being as careful and quiet as they would be under different circumstances.

Ellie shook her head at her friend’s theatrics.

“Your life is so hard.”

“You're laughing now, but wait until Joel starts getting on your case about settling down and helping to repopulate the planet.” Dina bumped their shoulders together, pushing Ellie slightly to the side.

“Your dad said that _once_ , as a _joke_ ,” Ellie said, stretching out her hand against the closest tree trunk and taking a second to make sure they were still going in the right direction. “Besides, you won't have any trouble finding a new boyfriend. You could have anyone you wanted.”

She steered them a little further to the right, and readjusted her bow to make sure she would have access to it at a moment's notice.

When Dina didn't reply, Ellie took in her friend’s face a little more closely. There was something strange about her expression that Ellie had no idea how to read. The only person she’d ever truly understood was Joel, and he often showed as much emotion on his face as a statue huen from stone.

They spent the next couple of minutes in what Ellie hoped to be comfortable silence. While she looked out for any signs of danger, Dina twirled her machete back and forth in her hand. Ellie had always appreciated how well her friend knew how to work that particular weapon.

When they reached the first spot they needed to pick herbs from, Dina watched as Ellie crouched down and set down her backpack.

“Why exactly are you the one picking this stuff again?” Dina asked from her place near a thick oak tree from which she had a decent view of their surroundings.

Ellie pulled out a small pouch from her pack and gave Dina a raised eyebrow.

“Because Dr. Zhou asked me to get them for her,” she said slowly, wondering why her friend was asking a question she already knew the answer to.

Dina’s smile looked absolutely gorgeous, but Ellie knew it spelled nothing but trouble for her.

“Your crush on her is so cute.” Dina pressed her back against the oak tree and crossed her feet. It was a good thing that her backpack was still full of empty pouches, because if any herbs had already been in there, they would have been smushed beyond recognition.

Ellie sighed and tried to hide her blushing face by looking back down at the tiny plants she was supposed to be plucking from the earth.

“Shut up,” she said, making Dina laugh. Not even half a second later, they were both grinning. Then, Dina went back to keeping watch while Ellie went to work on the little green herbs. She made sure to leave some behind so they would grow back in spades, since the soil inside the compound wasn't ideal for everything they needed.

Once she was done, she gently placed the small bag back inside her backpack and got to her feet. Again, Dina had that weird expression on her face, and Ellie gave her a squinty look.

“Why is your face doing that thing?” she asked while she slung her rucksack over her shoulders and picked up her bow.

“What thing?” Dina replied, and Ellie could have sworn there was the barest hint of a blush on her friend’s face. Weird indeed. Stupidly, she also hadn't anticipated that Dina would deflect her question with one of her own.

Floundering in her lack of explanations, Ellie fell back on what she knew best: Snark.

“That thing where it looks stupid,” she said almost automatically, glad when it got her an eye roll and a punch in the shoulder instead of further reverse-interrogations. Although it didn't help her with figuring out her friend’s strange mood.

Together, they continued their trek through the underbrush, stopping here and there for herbs and medicinal plants. They’d just reached the last relevant destination - a creak that entered into a small lake - when Dina finally spoke again. Ellie had just taken off her shoes and socks and rolled up her pants to her knees so she could wade into the water, when her friend’s words drifted over to her from the side.

“Are you coming to the dance tomorrow?”

With one toe poised over the water, Ellie turned her head to stare at her. For all intents and purposes, Dina looked as relaxed as she usually was, but Ellie could detect the slight stiffening to her friend’s shoulders. She couldn't read faces, but she had been trained to read signs of danger or duress in potential enemies and allies. Dina was giving off all sorts of conflicting signals today.

“Wasn't really planning on it,” Ellie admitted, finally submerging her foot in the cold water. Once she had a decent purchase, her second one followed and she slowly waded deeper into the transitional space between creek and lake. “You going?”

“Yep,” Dina replied, fiddling with her machete again. “I was hoping you'd be there, too.”

Up to mid-shin in water, Ellie gave her friend a slightly disbelieving look.

“Not a big crowd-kinda person,” she said, wondering why Dina had suddenly forgotten that little tidbit about her.

Dina’s mouth opened to respond, but nothing came out, mainly because she heard the exact same thing that Ellie did at the very same moment. A rustle, followed by the sound of a twig breaking under clumsy feet.

“Shit,” Ellie said a mere second before the stalker shot out from the tree it had been hiding behind and started straight for her. She swore once more as she pulled her knife from her belt and readied herself for impact. There wasn't enough time to get back to solid ground, and she didn't want Dina to get bitten. Stalkers were vicious, and Ellie could withstand a bite or two.

The infected jumped as soon as it was close enough, arms outstretched and ready to subdue so it could spread the fungus. Knife at the ready, Ellie knew exactly what she was going to do to dismantle this fucker, but when it made impact, Ellie's foot slipped out from under her, knocking her straight back into the water.

For a moment, Ellie felt only the rush of liquid trying to drown her, as well as the hands reaching for her and wrapping around her flesh. The fall had disturbed the sediment, causing dirt and sand to swirl up and blind her. Her knife had come loose from her hand, and for a few terrifying seconds Ellie couldn't do more than simply _hold on_.

Then, suddenly, the hands grabbing her went limp and were replaced by smaller, gentler ones.

“Ellie!” Dina’s voice rang loudly and deafeningly in Ellie’s ears as her head burst out of the surface of the water, followed swiftly by her shoulders as Dina continued to pull her upright. “Ellie! Ellie, did it get you?”

While she continued to cough up water, Dina’s hands seemed to be everywhere, patting her down, looking for a bite wound.

“M’fine,” Ellie sputtered, lifting both arms as best as she could to show that nothing had happened other than her almost drowning. “M’fine.” She still had her right arm raised when Dina wrapped both of hers around Ellie’s back and held her as close as humanly possible.

While Dina whispered over and over how glad she was that Ellie was fine, Ellie finally looked at the corpse of the floating stalker. It had a machete sticking out of the back of its neck. Feeling her cheeks warm with affection, Ellie gently reciprocated the hug and patted Dina’s back.

“Hey, hey, it’s all good,” Ellie said quietly, keeping an ear on whether or not there would be more infected coming for them now that they’d caused such a ruckus. “I’ve been through worse.” She could feel the indentations of nails in her flesh where the stalker had managed to break skin on her left shoulder, but she didn't want to worry Dina. Since she was immune, nothing would come of it, so it really wasn't worth it.

Pulling back from the embrace, Dina brought her hands to Ellie’s cheeks instead, before pressing a frantic kiss to her forehead. Fire seemed to spread through Ellie’s veins at the touch of soft lips on her skin, and she wondered if _this_ was what it felt like to be infected.

“Fuck,” Dina whispered as she sat back in the water and pulled her machete free from the stalker’s neck. Her sweater had still been mostly dry, but a moment later she'd let herself fall back, floating next to the stalker in an almost macabre mimicry.

Ellie wiped a few stray hairs out of her face. She was soaked to the bone, so she didn't bother getting to her feet in order to search for her knife. It had been a gift from Joel, so she wasn't about to leave it behind.

As soon as she’d recovered it amongst the pebbles and sand, she stuffed it as best she could back into her belt, before dragging the dead stalker from the water. It wouldn't be good to leave it in there to fester. By the time she came back to the creek, Dina had drifted out into the lake.

“You okay?” Ellie asked as loudly as she dared. When Dina didn't reply, Ellie sighed and waded back into the water. She still couldn't swim properly, so she didn't move further out than she absolutely had to - which left her standing a few feet away from Dina, who was staring at the sky. “Dina? You okay?”

It took a couple of seconds for Dina to turn onto her front and swim back to her. She still had the machete in her hand, which made for an odd sight, but Ellie was too focused on her friend’s serious face.

“I never get used to it,” Dina said, keeping herself afloat in front of Ellie. “Almost seeing the people I care about die. I don't know how you do it.”

Ellie was unsure what to say. Her ability to detach from the horrible things in her life had been beaten into her over and over again, and she was glad that Dina hadn't been forced to adapt in the same way. Of course Ellie knew that her friend had seen her fair share of horrors, but she’d kept a humanity about herself that Ellie felt she herself had lost.

Taking Dina’s hands, Ellie pulled her friend into shallower water. Hoping she wouldn't make the situation worse, Ellie waited for Dina’s feet to find purchase on the sandy ground below them, before drawing Dina’s hand to her chest.

“You know I'm shit at the feelings thing, but…” She looked slightly to the side, her toes digging into the lake floor. “I think it's great, how much you care.” She was pretty sure her words sounded supremely stupid, but she had no idea what else to do. Simply brushing over what had happened didn't seem right. “I think it's why we fit so well together… as friends.” She was embarrassing herself; she was sure of it.

But when she chanced a look back at Dina, she was surprised to see a smile on her face. And she was even more floored when her friend cupped her neck and leaned in.

With her friend’s lips pressed oh so sweetly against her flushed cheek, Ellie had half a mind to pinch herself. She was standing fully clothed in a lake with Dina, who was one of the most beautiful people Ellie had ever met, and who was also the funniest, smartest person in their whole compound… and she was here. With Ellie.

Dina remained close even after her kiss, her breathing softly hitting Ellie’s face.

“Come to the dance tomorrow,” she whispered, smoothing her thumb along Ellie’s jaw.

“Okay.”

“Promise?” Dina asked almost shyly, the water dripping from her hair somehow making her look even more gorgeous.

“Yeah,” Ellie croaked out, somewhat wishing that another infected would come careening out of the woods so she could escape from this strange mood that had befallen them.

Something was definitely up with Dina lately.

If only Ellie could figure out what it was.

**Author's Note:**

> and then she found out what was going on the next day when her friend made out with her in front of the whole compound. blessingssss
> 
> let me know what you think!
> 
> also, if you have ficlet ideas, do lemme know on tumblr @goshdarnitjay. i'm currently working on an idea that someone left me there, sooo be prepared for that good hurt/comfort ♥
> 
> xoxo


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